T-12671, 21:00 hours

A long,exhausting week had come to a weak end and another was on the verge of beginning. Saturdays come every week but the village/forest/college/institution I study in declares it a holiday every alternate week. Friday was a long wait. As the saying goes, after Monday and Tuesday even the days of the week say WTF! The lunch bell clanged at 12 30 pm and I ran at a pace enviable for Usain Bolt, just to have lunch. I reached my hostel faster than that and my already gleaming face widened further and the clothes(mostly,okay,everything UNCLEAN) were dumped into the American Tourister. It was time to go home. Get,Set, Go! A suitcase in one hand, mobile in the other, ear-phones plugged in, the world was at my feet. A soft voice rang  me up to ask if I had left(My Mom).My friend(guy) wanted to show me how big Coimbatore was and we set about exploring. Dinner in a roadside shop decorated in comical colors was avoided and a restaurant was chosen. 8:50 pm read the Casio on my left wrist as I casually ordered another plate of pani-puri. Something was seriously wrong.OMG! My train was to leave in less than 600 seconds. The order was canceled in a jiffy and I was fighting a race against time.
       The engine roared to life and the pulsar 220 took off in jet speed. Too clichéd? It was only 40 km/hr because it was just a scooty pep+. My bad luck. 70 seconds remained for 9:00 pm to strike and the signal itself had taken 40 off it. The back entrance of the railway station finally arrived with 15 seconds to go and I had to show off my running skills yet again. To add to my disastrous luck, the train had been dislodged from its equilibrium position by the crazy driver.I finally managed to get onto to the running train. A barrage of bad words followed from my friend. Probably my experience wasn't all that great. Maybe it was. S10 seat no.18 read my ticket and again it happened . I had got onto S1. Brilliant. A 45 minute wait for the next station. I jumped off the coach and ran towards mine. Railways need to be taught how to organize coaches. The anti-climax was finally over. A poorly lit compartment welcomed me. Half the lights off, people wandering aimlessly, some wanting to get some sleep, some wondering what to do, few on the phone. One passenger stood out. His mouth wide open, gazing at the roof of the compartment. WATCH OUT FOR THAT MOSQUITO WAS ALL I COULD SAY!
        Train journeys have always fascinated me. I've seen enough movies to conclude love cannot happen in the train. Beautiful girl sitting right in front of you. Angels surrounding you with a weird background score. No further explanations. We always want an incident like this, don't we? It did happen to me. A young girl probably 17 dressed plainly, dark, innocent and glittering eyes wandered here and there and finally it met my searching eyes. All I did was stare,stare and STARE at her. A word was about to break the silence when a loud thud on my seat cracked open my senses with the words,"Thambi,Ticket ticket tickett". Reality dawned upon me. It was a dream alright but why such a sad ending to it? May the TTR rest in peace. All I could see opposite me was an old woman probably in her twilight years asking me,"Ize-greem venuma dhambiii?". I was neither flattered nor deceived. Sometimes, life is like that. One such incident did happen but it was a girl of all people who could match my nonsense talk word for word. Wavelength match was perfect. Its not everyday that these happen but once they do, MEMORIES STAY ON FOREVER.
         Only 3 out of the 8 hours had passed. A lot more had to happen. Every time i step into a train I've wanted something different to happen. During my 2 year experience, all I've learnt is this - Never worry about the destination or the time duration , just endure the journey ...

0/1 is now 0/2 !

It came as a surprise to some,shock to many,obvious to a few but for a cricket lover like me, it was a disaster waiting to happen. 2004 Tsunami didn't shake me, 2012 doesn't bother me but Friday the 9th of March will remain forever etched in my memory. Goodbye to one of the greatest ever Indian cricketers, Goodbye to the god of the cut shot,goodbye to my cricketing idol,goodbye to the wall,goodbye to Rahul Sharad Dravid.. A drop of tear trickles down my cheek as i type this.A genius at work,master at the art of concentration."I don't believe that you judge careers or what people have done for 15-20 years based on one or two matches in the end.It is the work of a lifetime that goes into the making of a success story. " These words by the great man at the press conference inspired me to write this.
          A tribute to the legend of the game. We don't want sixers,we want to see you get to the pitch of the ball and bang it on the turf. You grind the bowlers to dust, destroy their confidence and silently carry on with your work. Yes! Patience is a virtue. You made me realise it. You adjusted your game to suit ODI and T20 and collected over 10000 runs and what do people say? You cannot play aggressive cricket.You've done everything for the team ; Kept wickets to accommodate a batsman,open the batting,captain the team to overseas wins. I can't name everything as it is endless. A role model to millions of young aspiring cricketers like me. I don't want to play the pull like Virat Kohli or the dilscoop like Dilshan but I want to learn to defend the ball off both feet. The basic shot in cricket has been forgotten by many. You are a gentleman, a hard-worker.The real wall of Indian cricket. Sachin Tendulkar says, There can be no-one else like Rahul Dravid. God himself has decided it. Australia,South Africa,England,West Indies ..You've scored against everyone. Antigua,Rawalpindi,Adelaide,Lords,Chennai .. You name a place and you have a memorable innings to recollect. Such was the grit,confidence and determination not of a rock-star like Yuvraj or a dasher like Sehwag but of the resistant yet never repelling Dravid. Proud to be born in Bangalore.RCB sorely missed you. You do not need money.name,fame, you have priceless qualities in the name of pride,humble nature and simplicity to stand by you.
         A man of few words, you were a nice guy who could play hard and yet,WIN. They criticized you for a strike-rate of 30 but they never realized that the other batsman had the license to kill only because they trusted you to stay put at one end. Samit and Anvay are the luckiest kids around. Sachin was worshiped, Laxman had the silken touch, Ganguly had Kolkata at this feet. Yet the entire cricketing fraternity respects the WALL of Indian cricket. Slow and steady wins the race. BCCI can search in vain ,a replacement for the number 3 spot.Try your luck, but you cannot get another Rahul Dravid. SALUTE TO A FIGHTER.
               Sachin - God , Ganguly - The God of offside , Laxman - The God of 4th innings . But when the doors of the temple are closed ,even GOD IS BEHIND THE WALL.
CRICKET WILL MISS U, RAHUL SHARAD DRAVID!

One Man,One Woman,Two Different Worlds,One Common Mistake!

Just to get you in a Déjà vu situation. It starts with the boy loving the girl and trying his best to convince her father and brother about it. A few fight sequences follow and the young man with a few scars on his face(which can be healed in a few days)and the beautiful girl head off to the most bizarre locations in the world for their running around the tree routine(SONG SEQUENCE folks!).Imagine the Burj Khalifa for a romantic number.And yeah,the final fight happens in some old abandoned building which was specifically left under construction for this,where the girl's parents(strictly father) send a bunch of henchmen who cannot take more than a single blow despite the possession of weapons. His ultimate aim - Either to bash them up and go to the marriage hall to stop the proceedings or to bash them up in a more brutal way to reach the final destination.Aren't we sick and tired of this?
         Do all marriages take place like this? Really? Whats with the term marriage? Sharing your property? Understanding each other? Dowry? Think . Think Again . A genius once said ,marriages are made in HEAVEN? If yes , then who's gonna die first?Are they made in shaadi.com,bharat-matrimony.com?tamil-matrimony.com? These website are probably the cheapest ways of selling yourself in the most complicated manner hoping someone falls for it. Its a relationship and not a property we're selling. Are these the only ways of finding the rich guy from Ameriga or Doobai? Are Facebook profile pictures enough to choose her? Minutes of staring , Hours of talking is called LOVE , Minutes of talking and Hours of staring is the methodology a guy and a girl follow when their parents are in a round table conference and with a few plates of sweets,mixture and a glass of juice existing on the table for formality! None of them are even going to touch the food!
          How do they want their life-partners? Marriage is a one time investment with a permanent validity(divorce excluded!). Height is a parameter? Hair on your head? Money in your pocket? Home-maker? Girl working in I.T company? Good looking? "Curling" hair? Only wearing Saree? We've seen all such requirements.Are all of these satisfied? Finding faults in every other person will not result in marriage. Even if the parents of the boy and girl agree to the Terms and Conditions**(note the asterisks),the next step is go to the family astrologer. He sets up his apparatus,those weird check boxes which has ancient scripts written,does his permutations and combinations and declares that date as fixed. The guy and the girl get to talk a "few words" amidst this chaotic situation. Will the friendly nature come out? We ain't living in a generation where the girl is asked to sing and keep staring or smiling at the guy. Should I say bashful?. Its a generation where a walk in the beach would convince you.
         Marriage halls are fixed,caterers are ready(a special mention to those souls who come just for food,Thank You very much),family,friends,ex-boy-friends and girl-friends, every single person is invited for the special day to see the couple staring helplessly at you from the dias. Probably wondering if the people who came were from her side or his side or neither. All formalities are completed and the couple live happily ever after.THE END. Wait a minute. Is everything alright? 6 months post the mistake(marriage),things begin to roughen up. Probably something worse than what an auto-driver would expect with Chennai roads. What if the couple don't like each other? What if the girl prefers his Audi or BMW over him? What if the boy realises that her seven digit salary has a decimal in the middle. I suppose even marriage is not a bed of roses. Divorce comes before marriage only in the dictionary as someone said. I repeat my question, Are all marriages made in Heaven? Think. Think Again ...